Jurors convict man of murdering two in West Oakland neighborhood in 2010

OAKLAND -- An Alameda County jury on Friday convicted an Oakland man of two counts of murder for killing two men for no apparent reason in a residential West Oakland neighborhood in 2010.

DeShawn Reed, 30, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting Oakland residents Victor Johns, 29, and John Jones, 56, at 30th and Linden streets on March 5, 2010.

Defense attorney Spencer Strellis had argued that Reed is innocent and was misidentified as the gunman. Reed was captured shortly after the afternoon shooting in a black-and-gray plaid shirt -- different from the black hoodie witnesses described the shooter wearing -- and without any weapon. Gun powder residue, however, was found on his hand and at least one witness identified Reed as the gunman.

Reed sporadically trembled as a court clerk read guilty verdicts of first-degree murder for Johns's death and second-degree murder for Jones'.

"John was a very good person and a very good son," 80-year-old Vera Jones said with fresh tears on her cheeks. John Jones was her eldest of three sons. Her youngest son died of cancer at age 38.

"The killings didn't make any kind of sense. They don't know what pain they put me in," the mother said.

Prosecutor Autrey James said Reed hoped out of a black Saturn and fatally shot Johns as he was running for safety toward a backyard. Reed shot Jones once as Jones was standing on the sidewalk, and then several more times as he stood above him.

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He then fled the scene in the Saturn driven by Jason Watts. Watts, 28, was tried separately and was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for two first-degree murder convictions last year.